India deliberately dragged into Bangladesh war crimes trial

New Delhi: At a time when the Awami League-led government in Bangladesh is successfully conducting the war crimes trials and erasing the stigma, India’s foreign diplomacy was allegedly dragged into the issue.

Abdul Awal Thakur, a noted journalist in Bangladesh, said that Bangladesh attached more importance to India than any other foreign nation or global body.

Speaking to Radio Tehran on the hanging of Bangladeshi Nationalist Party stalwart Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury for charges of war crimes, he said, global bodies including UN, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch had expressed deep concerned over the credibility of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT). Notably, the ICT was set by the Sheikh Hasina-led government to try the persons allegedly involved with war crimes committed during the 1971 War of Liberation.

He mentioned that the Pakistan government is on the verge of summoning the Bangladeshi High Commissioner in Islamabad regarding the hanging. However, media reports suggested that both India and China, both close neighbours of Bangladesh, are backing the trial process (read death penalty).

Abdul Awal Thakur said the Sino-Bangla equation has metamorphosed since the liberation war in 1971. Undoubtedly, Pakistan is a time-tested ally of China but trade diplomacy has changed attitudes of the Communist Party of China.

Thakur further said China knows that the Sheikh Hasina-led government was genuflected towards India as it was due to efforts of New Delhi that Awami League came to power and still clinging to the throne. To expand trade and secure its international boundaries, China is bound to keep a cordial relation with Bangladesh, said Thakur, adding that Beijing’s relation with New Delhi and Dhaka is not cordial.

Thakur noted that Bangladesh is a good market for Chinese goods and any bitterness regarding the war crimes trial will not go down well with the present Bangladesh government.

Despite, people in Bangladesh raising questions regarding the standards of the ICT, the government in Bangladesh went forward with the trial process and implementing the verdicts (mostly death penalties)with the backing from India, Thakur alleged.

The enforced disappearance of women and babies is a sequel to disappearances of the Baloch leaders, activists, lawyers, doctors, teachers, journalists and people from all walks of life who demand justice for Balochistan. Facebook

Washington DC, Oct 31, 2017: The DC-based American friends of Balochistan has appealed to the United Nations, US State Department, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Unicef, International service for Human Rights and other international bodies to step in to free four women and three babies from the illegal captivity of Pakistan security forces.

Fazila Baloch, wife of Balochistan freedom leader Dr Allah Nazar Baloch and his adopted daughter Popal Jan, 4; Fazila’s friend Bibi Salma and her one-and-half years old son named Irfan; Ayaal and her two years old daughter Zairak and a fourth woman Gohar Jan, were abducted Monday afternoon from Bibi Salma home in Quetta, capital of Balochistan.

According to details, Dr Nazar’s wife, who was badly injured in the bombing on Dr Nazar’s village in December 2012 was in Quetta for medical treatment. The bombing had killed 44 close relatves of Dr Nazar dead.

Dr. Allah Nazar Baloch. Facebook

The AFB said the enforced disappearance of women and babies was clear violation of the Geneva conventions and shows Islamabad is committing violations of the laws of war with impunity in Balochistan.

“Enforced disappearances of women and babies show unconscionable acts of state terror is being perpetrated on Baloch civilians. The United Nations and human rights organizations should immediately hold Pakistan accountable for its actions in Balochistan. We regret that enforced disappearances in Balochistan has not received the attention of the world community, further emboldening the Deep State of Pakistan to throw the Geneva conventions to the winds in Balochistan.”

The enforced disappearance of women and babies is a sequel to disappearances of the Baloch leaders, activists, lawyers, doctors, teachers, journalists and people from all walks of life who demand justice for Balochistan.

“In the backdrop of a genocidal situation, mass graves have been found, villages have been bombed, burned and destroyed and the means of livelihood of citizens have been snatched in the length and breadth of France-sized Balochistan. All these actions of Pakistan security and intelligence services constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes, while ethnic cleansing is continuing on a daily basis to pave way for the multi-billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor.”

“In the United States when a child is abducted by any criminal we have what is called an “Amber ” alert. Within minutes across the entire United States is broadcast on television, radio, even on flashing signs on highways across the interstate. Unfortunately in Balochistan the security forces are the criminals who are doing these abductions,” the AFB said.

The AFB said two days earlier, Pakistan security forces raided Baloch homes in the Gulistan-i-Johar area of Karachi and forcibly disappeared nine youngsters, including an eight year old boy Aftab, son of Yunus.

“No words are enough to condemn these despicable acts of the security and intelligence services against the hapless Baloch populace. We urge immediate action by the State Department and ending all dealings with the Southern Command of Pakistan army that calls the shots in Balochistan, the Inter Services Intelligence, Military Intelligence and Frontier Corps in deference for the Leahy Amendment,” the AFB statement concluded.

At least 8,000 Baloch are still victims of enforced disappearances in Balochistan while 1500 such victims were killed and dumped, according to human rights organizations.

UN Secretary-General asserted that more efforts must be made to prevent growing crimes against humanity

He asserted that the need of the hour is to save civilians from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and indiscriminate attacks happening all over the world

Antonio Guterres is the present UN Secretary General

United Nations, September 7, 2017 : UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for more efforts to prevent genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.

Civilians, including women and children, are being killed either deliberately or as victims of indiscriminate attacks, resulting in the high number of refugees and internally displaced people,” Guterres told a UN General Assembly informal dialogue on the responsibility to protect civilians on Wednesday.

“We must do more, and we must do better, to reverse these negative trends,” he said.

He said the UN must give greater attention to conflict prevention and he gave strong commitment to improving the capacity and coordination of the UN in atrocity prevention, Xinhua news agency reported.

The responsibility to protect still generates some discomfort for a number of UN member states. The main concern is that the principle will be used to impose international approaches on national problems, in ways that may harm national sovereignty, he noted.

“I have deep respect for national sovereignty. Indeed, the success of the UN in implementing its mandates depends on national actors being able to deliver on their sovereign responsibilities,” said the UN Secretary-General.

“Our shared challenge is to use the principle of the responsibility to protect to achieve the goals that were originally envisaged. I am convinced that open and constructive discussion among concerned states can overcome any remaining differences,” he said, adding that the UN member states have the primary responsibility to protect their populations.

“But should national authorities manifestly fail to protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, then we must be prepared to take collective action, in accordance with the (UN) Charter, including Chapter VII, on a case-by-case basis.” (IANS)

The Hague, Nov 15, 2016: International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutors said that there were preliminary grounds to believe that US military forces committed war crimes in Afghanistan.

In a report published on Monday evening, the prosecutors said that after a thorough inspection, the US forces were found to have committed war crimes through torture and other types of abuse at secret detention camps, Efe news reported.

The ICC prosecutors said they also have good reason to believe that the Taliban and its allies, belonging to the Haqqani Network, have also committed “crimes against humanity and war crimes”, while war crimes and torture would also have been carried out by the Afghan government, particularly by thr National Directorate for Security intelligence agency and the Afghan National Police.

The ICC prosecution office said it will decide whether to carry out a full investigation into the Afghan issue and, according to the results, could press charges against individuals and even issue arrest warrants.

The ICC was established in 2003 to prosecute serious war crimes and crimes against humanity, but the US under former President George W. Bush was strongly opposed to the establishment of the court, of which the US is not a member. (IANS)